Monday, April 20, 2009

Debt Free

But it seems like everyone is daily bombared with something regarding their finances. Credit card offers flood mailboxes, tips on how to save money are all over the place, and in this society a day doesn't go by where the dow jones isn't mentioned. Loans and consolidations. 401(K). Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Credits and debits. Debt to income ratio. Blah, blah, blah.

And then I choose to "torture" myself by clipping coupons. Don't get me wrong-I love being frugal and saving money as much as possible. But sometimes it does take time and effort.

Peter and I have focused on our finances for a long time, even before we were married we would discuss our "plan of action" for our finances. Since getting married, we have been striving to pay off our debt as quickly as possible. Our goal is to be debt free (minus a mortgage-since that is a "normal" debt to have, but again within our means) at as early an age as possible (which at this point is well before we're 30). Part of this is because we'd like me to be able to be a stay at home mom, and having no debt would make that much more feasible with one income. Another part of the reason is to be a good steward of our money.

It has taken discipline and hard work to do what we've been doing. Sacrifices are made. We continually revisit how much debt we still have to pay, if we can increase any of the amounts being paid, how much money is in our 401(K)s, if we should/can increase the amount we're saving for retirement, etc, etc etc. It takes time and energy to continually process all of this. But it's worth it. And we've been very blessed to be where we currently are and have what we currently have.

Two weeks ago we paid off our car and received the title in the mail. It was a milestone for us and so very exciting! We are now the proud owners of a car that is only a couple years old with low mileage, a warranty, and even a sunroof :P

While driving to my parent's house over Easter weekend (after having received the title in the mail that day), we had the sunroof open, our sunglasses on, and music blasting. We were thoroughly enjoying our car ride. The sun was setting, there was a chill in the air, and then I saw it. On an old little church sign it said: Be debt free. Jesus paid it all.

Many people are concerned with their financial debt. Especially with all that's going on in the world today. Foreclosures, lost jobs and other situations have forced families to reevaluate their quality of life. To rethink buying a new car. Circumstances have driven folks to deal with the debt they've been racking up and figure out a way to dig themselves out of the hole.

Are they equally driven to their knees because of their spiritual debt? Are they focused on their sins condemning them to death?

Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" so we know no one is exempt.

We also know that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

We are all sinners. And all sin deserves death. I don't remember much from geometry, but I do remember that if A=B and B=C then A=C. Catch my drift? We all deserve death.

There are major repercussions to my sins. There's no way I could ever dig myself out of the hole of my spiritual debt. An eternity wouldn't be long enough to even begin to try. There's nothing I can do about it. Left to my own accord, the hole would just get bigger and bigger. The only one who pay off my spiritual debt is Jesus. He paid the consequence for my sins. He satisfied God's wrath because He loves me that much.

It's such a humbling and awesome reminder to stumble across signs like the one at the church we passed on route 422. Once and for all, Jesus paid it all. His blood has washed me clean. So often I think about how elated I will be when we pay off our financial debt. This doesn't hold a candle to the emotion I feel because of Jesus paying off my spiritual debt. Instead of being sentenced to death, I'm freely given the gift of eternal life. Freely given. I know lots of loan consolidation companies offer great deals, but none of them offer to forgive your debt, in total, for free. But Jesus does. And this is all you have to do.